Abortion Foes

Winter Park's controversial ordinance banning "targeted" picketing in residential neighborhoods has withstood a federal appellate review after a complaint filed by Christian women who argued the restrictions violate their constitutional rights to free speech and religious expression. The women had challenged an ordinance approved by Winter Park City Council in 2012 about a month after anti-abortion protesters, waving signs bearing images of aborted fetuses, picketed in front of the home of Jenna Tosh, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Orlando.

Winter Park's controversial ordinance banning "targeted" picketing in residential neighborhoods has withstood a federal appellate review after a complaint filed by Christian women who argued the restrictions violate their constitutional rights to free speech and religious expression. The women had challenged an ordinance approved by Winter Park City Council in 2012 about a month after anti-abortion protesters, waving signs bearing images of aborted fetuses, picketed in front of the home of Jenna Tosh, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Orlando.

Abortion opponents, trying to punish a French company for allowing the abortion drug RU-486 into this country, announced a boycott Thursday of dozens of medicines manufactured by its U.S. sister companies. None of the companies will test or sell RU-486 here. Manufacturer Roussel Uclaf turned over all U.S. rights to the drug to a nonprofit agency, the Population Council. But abortion opponents don't think that agreement is cast in stone and said they'll boycott 76 medicines made by the firm's U.S. subsidiaries until it's rescinded.

WICHITA, Kan. - Shortly before the defense rested in his murder trial Thursday, abortion foe Scott Roeder told a jury that he first began to think about killing Dr. George Tiller, the Kansas physician who specialized in late-term abortions, as early as 1993 and considered a number of ways to do it before deciding to shoot him in the head at church. "If someone did not stop him," said Roeder, "these babies were going to continue to die." In a rapid back-and-forth with Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston, who demanded yes or no answers, Roeder admitted that he thought about ramming his car into Tiller's custom-armored car, shooting him with a high-powered rifle at his clinic or slicing off Tiller's hands with a sword.

Groups opposing U.S. sales of the French abortion pill RU-486 confronted abortion-rights advocates Friday in a shouting match outside the French Embassy. Confined by police to a small, grassy area at the embassy gates, the two groups blended together, waving signs and trading slogans in a peaceful demonstration that lasted about two hours. At the peak, the 50 members from a coalition of anti-abortion groups were outnumbered by about 100 abortion-rights members from the National Organization for Women and the Feminist Majority Foundation.

When lawmakers reluctantly met last October to consider putting more restrictions on abortion, their efforts captured national attention, drew thousands of demonstrators and fizzled after two days of emotion and confusion.But if you thought it was over in October, just remember in November.That is the battle cry anti-abortion forces plan to bring to Tallahassee when the 1990 Legislature convenes April 3.After pro-choice lawmakers soundly defeated Gov. Bob Martinez's proposed abortion restrictions last fall, anti-abortion activists have little hope of passing anything this spring.

WASHINGTON -- Marching with evangelical purpose -- but little sense that their convictions would quickly become law -- thousands of abortion foes braved the cold and snow Monday to rally against Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that validated a woman's right to have an abortion. "It's so obvious to us, our belief in the rights of the unborn," said Barbara Parker, who came to Washington from St. Joseph, Ind., with her three children and her husband, Geoffrey. "We are hoping to change things."

By John C. Van Gieson and Mike Oliver of The Sentinel Staff, September 15, 1991

The daughter of Gov. Lawton Chiles spoke to 300 ministers and other abortion foes in Orlando recently. A staunch abortion opponent, Rhea Chiles-MacKinnon, 25, was asked whether she could persuade her father to change his belief that government should not further restrict access to abortion.''I've got an opinion, but I'm not going to comment. I don't want it in the newspaper right now,'' said the Tampa resident.

WASHINGTON -- Abortion foes in Congress introduced bills Wednesday that would tighten standards for doctors administering the abortion pill RU-486. Rep. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., joined by Sen. Tim Hutchinson, R-Ark., said the legislation was needed because the Food and Drug Administration had "caved in" to abortion-rights groups. The measure would require the prescribing physician to be legally empowered and trained to perform an abortion, properly trained in the drug's administration and have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.

CONFERENCE ISSUE. The American Bar Association will plunge into the abortion debate this week at its midwinter conference, as abortion rights supporters seek to force the reluctant organization to take a stand on the issue. The ABA's governing body, the 460-member House of Delegates, is being asked to support a woman's constitutional right to choose an abortion. The proposal has generated a fight not only between abortion foes and supporters but between members who want the organization to be heard and those who believe it has no business taking a stand on a volatile social issue not directly linked to the practice of law. The group never has adopted a policy on the constitutionality of abortion.

The man accused of murdering Kansas abortion doctor George Tiller seemed to have been stalking him for months, and had even been confronted at Tiller's church by a member of the congregation months before the physician was killed in the church's vestibule. On the first day of testimony in the murder trial of anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder, 51, church member Paul Ryding told a Sedgwick County jury that he approached Roeder in the Wichita church about six months before Tiller was killed because he did not recognize Roeder and became suspiciouswhen Roeder did not participate in services.

Daily Kos The Stupak-Pitts amendment will prohibit federal funds for abortion in the public option. It also prohibits individuals who receive affordability credits from purchasing a plan that provides elective abortions. It allows individuals to separately purchase with their own funds plans that cover elective abortions. Just like in the pre-Roe days, the wealthy will have access to abortion, those who can't scrape several hundred dollars together won't. Mcjoan Red State For all the conservative hand-wringing over Pelosi's short-term tactical victory enabling House passage of the bill, the reality remains: there may not be enough votes to pass the final bill with the Stupak Amendment, because of intransigence from pro-choice Democrats, and there may not be enough votes to pass the final bill without the Stupak Amendment, because of intransigence from pro-life Democrats.

It is one of the enduring questions of religion and science, and lately, of U.S. politics: When does a fertilized egg become a person? Abortion foes, tired of a profusion of laws that limit but do not abolish abortion, are trying to answer the question in a way that they hope could put an end to legalized abortion. Across the country, they have revived failed efforts to amend state constitutions to declare that "personhood" -- and all rights accorded humans -- begins at conception. Abortion opponents are gathering signatures, pressing state legislators and raising money for campaigns to place so-called "personhood" measures on ballots in 2010.

About 150 people, led by Bishop Thomas Wenski, staged an anti-abortion protest in downtown Orlando on Saturday morning. The crowd gathered at St. James Catholic Cathedral on Orange Avenue, where Wenski, the bishop of the Diocese of Orlando, held a brief prayer service. "We are trying to bring a measure of hope to people who do not see a future of hope for their children," Wenski told the crowd. After the service, the crowd walked down Orange Avenue to the Orlando Women's Center, an abortion clinic on Lucerne Terrace, praying, chanting the rosary and singing hymns.

Florida's financial crisis is not only dominating the headlines. It's also providing cover for lawmakers trying to push controversial issues through the Legislature. One example is the ultrasound bill. This is a law that would force women who want an abortion in the first trimester to get an ultrasound and then look at the fetus -- or fill out a form and sign a waiver, saying they refused to look. It also demands that they be given "a description of the fetus, including a description of the various stages of development."

Former U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde, 83, who represented the Chicago area in Congress for three decades, died early Thursday. On the national stage, the Illinois Republican was best known for an anti-abortion amendment that remains a marker in the abortion battle and for his role in the impeachment of President Clinton. Among his colleagues, Hyde was known for a love of history, a deft eloquence and cordial relations with the other side of the aisle despite his deep conservatism. He made a name for himself in 1976, just two years after his first election from the district that includes O'Hare Airport, by attaching an amendment to a spending bill banning the use of federal funds to carry out abortions.

More than 35,000 abortion foes braved snow and ice Friday to stage their 21st annual March for Life.Anti-abortion leaders criticized President Clinton and vowed to fight for ''no exceptions, no compromise'' in their drive to outlaw abortion once again.The march is held every Jan. 21 - regardless of temperature - on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized a woman's right to abortion.Speaking from a stage with her back to the White House, Nellie Gray, March for Life founder and president, called for unity among groups that frequently squabbled over whether to support abortions in cases of rape, incest and threat to the mother's life.

Congress moved Wednesday toward reversing 12 years of anti-abortion policy, as a Senate panel approved an abortion rights bill and the House took up a measure on abortion counseling.The major battle in Congress on the issue - how much leeway states should have in restricting abortion - is still several weeks or months away, when the House and Senate get to the Freedom of Choice Act, which would lock a woman's right to abortion into federal law.On Wednesday, the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee voted 12-5 to send that bill to the Senate floor.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Frustrated and angry over the state Legislature's failure to keep Terri Schiavo alive, anti-abortion activist Randall Terry on Thursday all but announced his bid to replace one of the ranking Republicans in the Florida Senate. Testing the waters at a series of news conferences in Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Daytona Beach, Terry launched attacks on Sen. Jim King, who voted against legislation aimed at keeping Schiavo alive. "We tried, but Jim King fought against us. And there must be repercussions," said Terry, who served as a spokesman for Schiavo's parents but is best known as the founder of the anti-abortion-rights group Operation Rescue.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Frustrated and angry about the state Legislature's failure to keep Terri Schiavo alive, anti-abortion activist Randall Terry on Thursday all but announced his bid to replace one of the ranking Republicans in the Florida Senate. Testing the waters at a series of news conferences in Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Daytona Beach, Terry launched attacks on state Sen. Jim King, who voted against legislation aimed at keeping Schiavo alive. "We tried, but Jim King fought against us. And there must be repercussions," said Terry, who served as a spokesman for Schiavo's parents but is best known as the founder of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue.